Chile

Yesterday morning we were up at 4am to go to the El Tatio geyser field, some 95 km north. The geyser field is at an altitude of 4300m above sea level. We arrived before sunrise in -8 degrees conditions to see massive plumes of gas and steam rise from the earth. It is one large interconnected geyser field with boiling water. Water boils at 85 degrees at this altitude. We saw bubbling mud geysers and spitting water geysers all with different mineral deposits around them. The scenery were transformed into a magical place when the sun rose over the mountains...

On the way back we stopped at a village with only 40 inhabitants, high up in the mountains. Janine bought a llama kebab and a goat's cheese empanada (something like a pie) which tasted great. Llama meat contains no cholesterol, but the goat's cheese makes up for that.

On the way back we stopped at a cactus forest that is hundreds of years old. These cacti grow at between 1cm and 3cm per year!

We love our stay here - relaxed atmosphere, good food, great scenery.

Culture shock: according to our guide married couples choose to retain their original surnames in this area.

We arrived in the desert town of San Pedro de Atacama (altitude of 2300m above sea level - I think) after a 25 hour bus ride from Santiago. The town is really small and basically consists out of a few dusty roads and buildings made out of adobe (red mud). The town has a beautiful town square next to the 250 year old church. There is also a museum with real desert mummies!

We are in the Atacama desert, known as the most arid region on earth. But it is really beautiful with weird rock formations and we are also on the edge of the largest salt flats in Chile.

The other day we went on a tour to the salt flats and the salt lakes. We really enjoyed the wide open spaces and the absolute silence. The crystallised surface of the flats is razor sharp. Then we went for a swim in one of the salt lakes. No matter how heavy you are, you will float here! It was amazing to float in the sunset silence until a Chilean family arrived to share their joy with everyone!

Culture shock: restaurants are not allowed to sell alcohol without selling food. Should you decide to only have something to drink and no food, they will put some dirty dishes next to you so that they are 'covered' if the police arrives!

Hosteria de la Colina is an upmarket B&B on a hill in Villarrica. I (Johan) surprised Janine with a night's stay in this beautiful guesthouse. The food was absolutely amazing as was the wood fueled Japanese hot tub in the garden. The American owners were very kind and gave us the best room for the price of their cheapest room! The following night we travelled to Santiago (about 700km north) by bus.

We stayed in downtown Santiago in an area known as Bario Brasil. The streets were clean and safe and the public transport system is great.

We left for Easter Island early the next morning.

Even though we were a bit stiff from the previous day's climb, we hooked up with AlbiTours (in Pucon) this time and went out to the countryside near Curarrehue (about 1.5 hours away from Pucon, about 2 hours from Villarrica). This, we thought, would be an excellent way to take in some of the scenery of the Chilean lakes district. It was all that and more. The day was perfect, no clouds, no wind. We were a group of 5, 2 guides and 3 of us, that ambled through the farm roads and chilean forests in this area. We were peppered with info about the natural and historical aspects of the area and the country and even had a few opportunities to canter with our horses. Neither of us are horse-riders at all. Being his second time on the horse, Johan was a bit cautious about this whole affair to begin with.

The horse he received could not speak a word of English so it was quickly decided that he would need another, more responsive horse that would not take him out running in the direction of the mountains. The guide swapped horses with him and it soon became apparent that the horse did not understand Spanish either! Johan's second horse was so docile it was practically asleep - just what he wanted! By the end of our 3 hour out-ride he had decided that his horse was, in fact, a donkey!

Janine had a fantastic horse who even took her running and jumping over obstacles in the bush. She was so in her element that she has decided that we are going to brush up our horse-riding abilities at home so that we can do things like this more often and over more extreme terrain. Taking pics of the back of a bobbing horse proved to be less than ideal but we managed one or two and the rest of the images are all in our heads as super special memories.

Today we had one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. For Janine it was her first time hiking on ice as well as her first volcano. For Johan it was by far his most amazing volcano experience to date. We joined up with the Politur adventure company, who provided us with all the gear, and braved the active Villarrica volcano. The climb would take us 5 hours to ascend a vertical 1500m which could be reduced by 1 hour (a good 400m) if the chairlifts at the base of the slope were working today. They weren't.

The day (which started at 6:20 a.m. at the Politur's office in Villarrica) was an icy one, but still a good sunny day with some cloud cover. By 9:00 we were ready to start our ascent. At the base of the conical mountain we were already worried if we were going to loose our toes and fingers because it was so cold. We started our climb as a group of about 25 people with about 5 guides between us. The group naturally split into 3 smaller groups according to pace, differentiating between those who were walking slowly and those who were walking slower and even slower. We managed to keep a good strong pace in the second group. The guide that accompanied us most of the way up and down, Armin, was very good with us and we were overall very impressed with the professionalism of the company who maintained good control over the groups and the temperamental conditions by means of walky-talky communication between themselves.

The photos we managed to take through the icy wind and steep slopes (sometimes the slope we were zig-zagging up was convincingly steeper than 45 degrees) cannot do justice to what we experienced on the volcano. It was by far one of the most amazing experiences we had yet experienced together. So worth the money, the time and all the excursion it took to get ourselves up to the summit which sits at 2580m above sea-level.

The volcano is active and there was a lot of gas coming out of the crater. This was problematic as breathing in the SO4 gas burnt any part of your exposed flesh that may be in any way moist (the gas dissolves very quickly to produce a highly corrosive H2SO4 which is very nasty to breath in or have anywhere near you for that matter). Throats, noses, mouth, eyes, around our nostrils which was moist from the climb. We tried to filter out the bulk of the gas through handkerchiefs, gloves and whatever else we had at hand.

The climax was the final walk around the crater rim. This was the most extreme part of the day as the path along the crater rim was very narrow with steep drop-offs on both sides. The winds seemed to be stronger than before and the temperature dropped considerably so that Janine had an ice-cream headache for most of the way. Dodging the gas was our main concern. It swirled all around us and you could feel the heat of the lava below (although we could not see it through all the gas) despite the cold cold winds around us. It was beyond words.

The first part of the decent was a brisk walk down the ice slopes aided by our crampons and ice picks. Later we chucked the crampons and slid the remainder of the snow slope down on our rears which was such a welcome change to the walking! The last section of the mountain, covered in loose volcanic stones, was equally easily covered as we walked through the cloud layer at the base of the mountain in a wide, comfortable steps. This was a beautiful, almost surreal moment for us. We reached the base and were welcomed by a view of the Villarrica lake under the cloud layer.

That night we watched the volcano through our bedroom window in Villarrica. We could see that strong orange glow of the lava in the crater reflected by the gas pluming out above. Amazing to think that we had been there just a few hours earlier...

What is a dream if you cannot change your mind?

Mountain biking was never my forte. But today (Thursday 13 April 2006) would be different, or so I thought. I (Johan) rented a bike (from people who cycled around the world) and decided to do a 30km circle route that seemed quite flat on the map. I chose to forget that the last time I was on a bike was probably about 5 years ago.

After 1.2km my legs were tired. After 4km a bus stopped next to me and offered me a lift. I declined. At the 5km mark I decided to let go of my dream of cycling through China for 6 months. It was not difficult to do. In fact it was a great joy. The only thing in front of me was the open (gravel) road. The silence was only disturbed by my ever increasing heart beat. Who said that it was easy to push a bike up a hill? But then the hill was behind me as I raced down into a tunnel of trees.

Everything was great again, the same again, except that I was free from that crazy dream of mine...

What a fantastic day! We are in Villarrica, a town some 700km south of Santiago. This is in the Chilean side of the Lake District, an area shared with Argentina. Lakes, mountains, and snow capped volcanoes abound. We stay in a comfortable hostel owned by a Swiss couple - Hostel La Torre Suize. This couple cycled around the world before hanging up their bikes in this town.

We just returned from hot springs deep in the mountains which we had virtually to ourselves. The drive there was beautiful and off the main roads - all misty forest mountains and valleys. The 40 degrees water was just what we needed to relax our tired muscles and warm us up - as it is still freezing cold (single digits!) - Janine thinks it was one of the most awesome moments of our trip thus far.

We finally boarded the Navimag boat Friday night at 7pm. There were many, many people. Fortunately the rain stopped, but the gale force wind blew spray over the pier so that we had to time our run to the main cargo hold of the boat to stay (reasonably) dry - then a massive oversize lift raised us to the main deck from where we went to our rooms.

We shared a room with a British couple whose company we really enjoyed. All meals were provided, but the crowd had to do the meals in shifts. The meals were substantial and we were never hungry. The bridge was always open for us to visit to get a better view of the spectacular route we were following through Patagonia's fjords and channels.

The cruising was very calm for the 1st 2 days. On the morning of day 3 we visited a small fishing village called Puerto Eden. It was a small peaceful village out of a fairy tale. The village has only 170 inhabitants, no roads, lots of king crabs and lots of rain, in fact 6000-7000mm per year! We also cruised past a Greek shipwreck that someone ran on the rocks to claim from their insurance - he was caught out and the boat was later on used as a lighthouse!

That afternoon, we ventured out into the open sea for 12 hours as there were no protective channels to cruise at that stage of the 1500km journey. The sea was really rough with ocean swell of about 3 metres and we were moving around like drunken men (and women). Johan was very excited about the prospect of the open sea - 2 hours into the rough he was, however, convinced that he need not pursue his dream to sail around the world. Early on the morning of the 4th day, we arrived at Puerto Montt, a bustling port city.

Films, documentaries and talks were shown and hosted throughout the journey. Overall we did not enjoy the cruising as much as we expected - mostly due to the continuous rain and the cramped communal areas.

We are still in Puerto Natales. We packed, checked out and only then found out that our Navimag boat was delayed because of a huge storm. So we went back to the same lodging, check-in again and unpacked (sort of). But the boat is here today and we have checked in this morning and will board at 7pm tonight!

In retrospect it was a blessing in disguise that Janine got sick and we left the Torres del Paine National Park. According to other travellers, it has been raining, ice raining, wind raining, snow raining and gale force winds blew since we left. Trees blew over on people`s tents and tent poles snapped... and did I mention that it rained?!

Later today/tonight we will board the Navimag ferry that will sail through the Patagonian fjords to Puerto Montt, some 1000km north. We hope to enjoy some warmer temperatures over there (at least in the double digits!).

We had a great rest and watched 3 episodes of "Los Simpsons" every night. We also sampled some of the local wine. Not that I am an expert in any way, but I really did not like the Santa Emiliana Cabernet Sauvignon (it was the cheapest wine in the store). Much better was the "I cannot remember the name"-Merlot, in a 1.5l box with a lid. Even much better still is my friend Pieter's Blank Bottle wines (for those in South Africa). If you have not had some of his wine, shame on you...

I found an interesting article in the Black Sheep, a free Puerto Natales Newspaper and quote a few of the paragraphs:

"Why the name Patagonia? In the 16th century, when the Europeans started to explore the distant places in South America, they met with a race of giant men. Hernando de Magallanes named the south of Chile and Argentina Patagonia in reference to the feet shod with leather moccasins of those giants.

In June of 1520, when the fleet commanded by Magallanes anchor in the port of San Julian, Argentina, a giant appears on the beach. Christian Pigafetta, a member of the crew, writes later: "This man was so tall that our head reached hardly to his waist". The crew achieves to captured 2 of these giants to take them to Europe, but they died during the trip.

In 1578, Francis Drake docked again in San Julian, starting a fight with a "man really high", 2.28 meters. During the skirmish he lost one of his men. Anthony Knyvet passed by the strait of Magellan in 1592, and recorded that he not only saw the giants, but also found and measured a group of dead bodies in Puerto Deseado, all of them between 3.10 and 3.60 meters. In 1568, Sebald de Weert saw natives of more than 3 meters in the same region. Later the giants started to disappear."

The article goes on to state numerous other explorers and former skeptics who had contact with them on many occasions. It seems from the article as if the giants mingled with normal people and that the true giants started to disappear in the 19th century...

Our first stop after the park was in Puerto Natales at a place called Hostel Dos Lagunas. Beautiful clean rooms with a very friendly and attentive owner who prepared a good breakfast of bacon and eggs and the best muffins you can imagine. This is in stark contrast to other breakfasts we have had in Chile - a double room was CH$18000 (about US$35) which was above our budget, so we could only stay for one night. The owner speaks good English and can be contacted at doslagunas@hotmail.com.

We then moved round the corner to a warm family run hostel (Residencial Mvono) with a double room for about US$23 including breakfast and kitchen access. Here we stayed for 5 nights waiting for the Navimag ferry that departs from Puerto Natales every Friday morning for Puerto Montt, a 1000km journey through fjords and channels.

The last few days were raining, so we spent lots of time chatting to friends and family on the web and updating our site.

Culture shock: Bread and rolls are very dense and are priced by weight; Bread is only toasted on one side; The front door of our hostel is opened from the 2nd storey with the use of a string that is attached to the latch; We witnessed two police officers taking statements from people after a window of their shop was broken (presumably a break-in). The whole area was cordoned off.

Monday morning (27 March 2006) we left via a public bus to the world-renowned Torres del Paine National Park. After a 3 hour journey, we arrived at the park entrance and started hiking - carrying enough food for roughly 9 days. We intended to do the "W"-route which leads one into 3 different valleys of the main mountain range.

The 1st day was mainly uphill into a beautiful valley where we rented a tent and camped at Chileno Refugio (mountain hut). Prices in the park are exorbitant so we avoided food and accommodation in the refugios. We camped! It was freezing - even in our sleeping bags (freezer bags?!) with all our clothes on.

We were surprisingly blessed with very good weather - each day very different though. From windy and clear to slight drizzle the next day, no wind, etc. The last day of walking was a beautiful, sunny and wind still day. We walked the W-route from east to west and we were almost always on our own. Stunning vistas amazed us along the way.

On day 2 we hiked out and up to the famous Torres (granite towers reaching a height of about 2800m above sea level) - the almost vertical clean rock faces of over 1200m attract the world's more serious rock climbers. We stayed at Chileno for a second night.

The next day`s hike was downhill and level for about 14km until we reached the beautiful Cuernos Refugio next to a river of ice cold water. We decided to splurge and Janine ordered hot chocolate for herself and a coke for Johan (US$3 or R20 each). We also shared a pack of cookies :-). The hot chocolate was a jug of hot milk presented with a bowl of chocolate powder and a big mug. Janine was delighted!

Janine complained of a tight throat that night and woke up (not that we managed to sleep) with self-diagnosed bronchitis. The hiking - although very easy and spectacular - was a bit much for Janine who was feeling sicker and sicker all the time. Johan carried her for the last 5 kms - just kidding! He booked us into the refugio dorms (a 6 bed room which we got for ourselves because of Janine's illness) which set us back about US$75 for the night. This was a very smart refugio which could compare favourably with a hotel.

We carried two courses of broad spectrum antibiotics with us, but left the fact sheets in Puerto Natales. We were, therefore, relieved to find internet at the refugio and Janine quickly sourced the necessary info. We decided to head back to Puerto Natales the next day rather than continue hiking with Janine's illness. Travelling back we we fortunate enough to see about 50 condors circling above us at one of our pit stops along the way. Johan caught the moment on video.

Ons het Suid-Afrikaners raakgeloop wie ons vantevore op die bus vanaf die lughawe na El Calafate gekry het. Pieter en Petro (vanaf Heidelberg in Gauteng) se kinders is uit die huis en hulle toer nou deur Patagonia vir 4-5 weke. Dit was baie lekker om met "ons mense" te kuier. Hulle was in die proses om te probeer om op `n laaste boot na Antartika te gaan. Die aand in Puerto Natales het hulle ons uitgevat vir pizza! Dit was ongelooflik lekker en beslis een van die beste maaltye wat ons al gehad het op ons trippie tot dusver! Ons het weer eens verskriklik lekker gekuier. Hulle is twee dae later weg om te kyk of hulle nog dalk by Antartika kan uitkom...

Culture shock: While walking on the trail, we saw a parrot - wild and unperturbed by our presence!

We were quite shocked to find that the recent world oil crisis also had a dramatic effect on almost everything in this far corner of Chile. Prices were about double that in our guidebook and about 100% to 120% of that in South Africa. Fuel costs more than double that in Argentina.

We, however, still managed to find a reasonable double room for about US$ 30 for the two of us. A disadvantage of staying in Patagonia Adventure (the hostel) is that the "kitchen access" advertised was discontinued about 2 years prior to our arrival. Another problem was that the people sleeping in the dorm next to our room snored like hippos! (Dis nou regtig "balke saag" soos hulle in die hemelse taal sê!) All good though because we evaded sleeping in a hostel that looked to us like something caught between a lunatic asylum and an old age home - even though it was half the price!

All the buildings are constructed out of wood and/or sink plates and every step and move creaks. Nevertheless, it was amazing to sleep in a better bed than in El Calafate.

We arranged our trip to the Torres del Paine National Park from here (actually we decided not to book anything, but just show up as the season was almost over and we prize our flexibility). We managed to rent walking sticks, a gas stove, a pot and sleeping mats at reasonable rates.